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"Good whiskey and bad women will be the ruin of you varmints yet. tp The Log ofa Cowboy by Andy Adams

Four cowboys 011 the JOl Ranch, known today as the Whitney Ranch, in Chase County, Kansas. Photo courtesy ofthe Whitneyfamily. •

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THE COWBOY: SOME VIEWS ON THE AREA OF HIS ORIGIN

by Lawrence Clayton

The cowboy has become an American folk hero, an icon of the American West. This figure, dressed in traditional regalia and mounted on a horse, is recognized around the world. His emergence onto the public scene came v."ith dime novels and later B-Westerns. He took over prime time on television in the 19505 and 19605 before losing mass appeal in the face ofa more sophisticated public entertainment. The originofthecowboy has been obscure. This uniquely American figure did not begin in America. Instead he drew his origin from Old World influences. The principal one was certainly the vaquero, who had seen centuries ofdevelopment in North America before Anglos and their black slaves moved into the eastern United States and developed a cattle trade. Two schools of thought dominate the discussion about the area of origin of the cowboy. The first stems from the work of Walter Prescott Webb, renowned historian, who places the birth of the cowboy and ranching as we know it in the United States in a diamond-shaped area of Texas with San Antonio on the north, Larcdo on the west, Indianola on the east, and the ruin ofyou vannints yet." Brownsville on the south. He says, "In this region and on its borders I Andy Adams were to be found a(( the elements essential to the ranch and range cattle industry." I The Nueees River, onee the border between Mexico and today af the Whitney Ranch. in Texas, runs through this region. tesy ofthe Whimey fomily.

Lawrence Clayton is a professor of English and Dean of the College of Am and Sciences at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. He has written extensively about cowboy and ranch life, mosl recently in his Cowboy~ (Eakin Press, 1997) and 1fistoric Ranches ofTexas (University of Texas Press, 1994). 6

The theory is an interesting one, because this area is now the Brasada, the Brush Country that J. Frank Dobje, an equally famous Texas folklorist and friend of Webb, called home. Dobie doted on this region's unique Spanish-influenced culture and inhabitants. Both Webb and Dobie agreed that the most important influence was this culture with its Spanish roots. This area is, without doubt, that in which the vaquero influence grew out of Mexico to shape the cattle business in Texas. To the influence of the vaquero on this ranching culture, Dobie, in his The Longhorns, adds a second factor, the herd-owning caballero, a Spanish gentleman. Since the first Texas cattlemen both owned and saw after cattle, Dobie seems justified in his view.2 Later some of these men established large ranches and hired cowboys to do the work, just as the Spanish priests and Conquistadors had done in Mexico and Mexican Texas. These cattle raisers maintained an open range attitude, one in which large numbers of cattle roamed much at will and survived as best they could with a minimum ofcare, even in the winter months. The men held periodic roundups to brand and gather cattle for slaughter or market. From this cattle-rich area much ofthe stock for the trail herds later came. Two other seholars offer support for Webb's and Dobie's basic theory of the area oforigin. The first is Joe Graham, a folklorist with a special interest in south Texas ranching and the product ofa family ranch in the Big Bend area. He places the main area of influence on Texas ranehing further to the west and south, thus acknowledging only part of the diamond-shaped area Webb describes. In his El Rancho in South Texas, Graham cites as support for his vaquero theory" among other notions, the more than two dozen Spanish terms used to describe items and techniques essential to cowboy Iife. 3 The second is Bill Wittliff, a talented photographer, film director, and writer, who holds that the vaquero is the source of the cowboy and has excellent photogrpahs to support the theory in his Vaquero: Genesis a/the Cowboy.4 A traveling exhibit from the Institute ofTexan Cultures carries these photographs to a large audience. The second school of thought is a revisionist view denying the 7

, because this area is now the predominance of the vaquero influence. It is espoused strongly by Terry :Dobie,anequally famous Texas Jordan in his Trails to Texm5 and to a lesser degree in North American ne. Dobie doted on this region's Callie-Raising Frontiers. Jordan, a cultural geographer, holds that the I inhabitants. Both Webb and impetus for an early cattle-raising culture in Texas came especially from lfluence was this culture with its the South as elements ofmostly British culture were transferred [0 Texas oubt, that in which the vaquero by newly arrived immigrants from Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas by the cattle business in Texas. way of Louisiana, where many of the people had settled temporarily I this ranching culture, Dobie, in before being allowed by Mexican authorities to move into Texas around )T, the herd-owning caballero. a mid-1800s. While it is true that these people had a long history ofcattle IS ca1;tlemen both owned and saw raising in woodlands with some open areas, it is also true that they did not ; view.2 Later some of these men have experience raising cattle on the vast, open, mostly treeless plains vboys to do the work, just as the found in Texas. Southerners referred to these open areas as "prairie," not i done in Mexico and Mexican by the Spanish tenn "llano" or even by the word "plain" found in the term "Great Plains" used to describe the flat, rich. one-time grassland now Jpen range attitude, one in which given largely (0 farming stretching from the Texas Panhandle into it will and survived as best they Canada. These newcomers from the South made extensive use of dogs he winter months. The men held to do this work, and identified the activity with the English r cattle for slaughter or market. tenn"cowpens" instead of "ranch" from Spanish "rancho." They used Dck for the trail herds later came. whips to drive their cattle and did not rely upon the "Iazo" or lariat used : for Webb's and Dobie's basic by the vaqueros and later the cowboys. There was little need for the s Joe Graham, a folklorist with a Southerners to rope their canle if the men had pens in which to eatch the and the product ofa family ranch animals in order to work them. These Southerners also used salt licks. nain area of influence on Texas which cattle regularly visit, as a means to manage stock These ranchers thus acknowledging only part of had what Jordan describes as a "greater attention to the welfare and .bes. in his EI Rancho in South quality oflivestock"& than was common in the open-range eulture further is vaquero theory, among other west. Their cattle were better bred than the Longhorn cattle that formed ush terms used to describe items the basis for open-range ranching in Mexico, Texas, and California, The e. 3 The second is Bill Wittliff, a slender conformation ofLonghom cattle was not a negative factor a( this and writer, who holds that the time because the main market for eattle was in hides and tallow, not beef iTld has excellent photogrpahs to The Anglos, aecording to Jordan, established themselves and the basis for lest's ofthe Cowboy.4 A traveling ranching culture in an area in southern Louisiana, some four hundred tures eacries these photographs to miles east ofWebb's diamond in south Texas, and later moved their way of stock raising to Texas, He diseusses a[ some length the tradition uf : a revisionist view denying the trailing herds of cattle to market by these people. 8

There is, however, doubt as to [he validity of some of Jordan's eonclusions, and in some eases he isjust wrong. Historian Riehard Slatta in his Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers criticizes Jordan's errors as stemming from "overrevisionism." lbis practice in the 19805 and 19905 charaeterized the role ofsome historians who offered alternative views of several phases of settlement in the West. In this eamp are the likes of Patrieia Limerick's The Legacy ofConquest: The Unbroken Past ofthe American Wesl,7 Richard White's "It's Your Misfortune and None a/My Own": A New History o/theAmerican West,S and an exhibit entitled "The West as America: Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier," held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art in 1991. Slatta correctly links this drive for revisionism to the Deconstructionmovement that has dominated the arts, especially literature, during the same period and admits that some correcting ofthe image is overdue. Thesc historians have revised the notions that Anglo males were the prime movers in the Westward movement and emphasized the roles ofother ethnic groups and women. A general feeling that some revisionism resulted in over eorrection is gaining followers,just as Deconstruction seems to be losing ground. Slatta notes that Jordan "ignores" both linguistie and material culture evidence to draw some "feeble" conclusions. Among the errors of Jordan's early thesis is the claim that buclulroo and corral, both of Spanish origin, derived from Mrican tenns buckra and kraal and came west with the slaves accompanying new Anglo setters from the South. Another is that the Africans "shaped" the ranching culture and strongly influenced the development of the cowboy. The most specious of Jordan's claims is that the role Texas culture played in the development ofranching techniques and institutions has been greatly exaggerated.9 In these matters, Webb and Dobie were closer to being on target than is Jordan. The corrective that Slatta has brought to Jordan"s notions is encouraging and may lead to further correction of the notion that the cowboy is dead and gone. On the positive side of Jordan's extensive work, however, is his discussion ofthe fact that there were-and are-Cajun cowboys, some of 9

~ validity of some of Jordan's them black descendants of slaves who worked cattle on horseback and Mong. Historian Richard Slatta drove herds of cattle to various markets, mostly to the east. Jim Bob ~rS criticizes Jordan's errors as Tinsley. an authority on cowboy songs and cowboy life, notes that the practice inthe 1980, and 1990, black mounted herders were called "cattle hunlers or graziers" and the who offered alternative views of white ones "cow keepers," to not "cowboys" and certainly not "vaqueros." 1. In this camp are the likes of This Southern terminology was carried to Texas where early settlers from 'uest: The Unbroken Past ofthe the South went on "cow hunts," not "roundups." When these people came rour Misfortune and None afMy to Texas, however, vaqueros had been ranching in south Texas for est, 8 and an exhibit entitled "The centuries. My personal preference in terminology for this largely es of the Frontier," held at the Southern culture, which formed my youthful experience in East Texas, is lOlerican Art in 1991. Slatta "stoek farming" rather than "ranching." A journal that serves the industry to the Deconstruction movement has the notion captured in its title Farmer-Stockman Magazine. The terature, during the same period practices of stock farming serve better in areas where water and timber age is overdue. These historians are plentiful, population dense, and private parcels ofland smaller than es were the prime movers in the in less populous areas. These are regions where rainfall is ample and the ~ roles ofother ethnic groups and soil is suitable for fanning. Here stock farmers raise cattle, row crows :: revisionism resulted in over such as small grains, and hay that help feed the stock during the winter. econstruetion seems to be losing In some areas in which these activities developed, early stockmen have to pay greater attention to the cattle than in areas where cold weather does th linguistic and material culture not deplete the nutritional value ofthe forage. lusions. Among the errors of Open range ranching could not have developed in areas where this buckaroo and corral, both of kind of care is required for cattle to survive. In southern Texas around rms buckra and kraal and came Victoria, for example, once cold weather (not cold by Northern standards 'I Anglo setters from the South. but with low temperatures in the thirties and forties) hits the grass, it loses Ie ranehing culture and strongly its nutritional value. In this region frost is uncommon, and ice and snow ,wboy. The most specious of are almost unheard of. The cattle in these areas are dependent upon ~ture played in the development supplementary feed until the return of eonsistently warm temperatures IDS been greatly exaggerated.9 ]n and rains in the spring. Here cattle will starve to death while standing in :loser to being on target than is useless grass. Even during the growing season, cattle must consume brought to Jordan's notions is these grasses in huge portions to maintain themselves. :orrection of the notion that the Ibis difference in nutritional value aceounts for the fact that a eow brought into this region from far west Texas or northwest Texas will lose :xtensive work, however, is his weight or even starve in ample pasture for eattle native to the region just nd are-Cajun eowboys, some of beeause she is not eonditioned to eat enough of the grasses to maintain 10 herself. By contrast, however, in the Davis Mountains offar west Texas, a cow from east Texas will gain weight on what to an inexperienced stockman looks like inadequate pasture. The forage maintains its nutritional value even in the cold ofwintcf. There will, however, be an adjustment period, often one year, during which the animal must learn what to eat from the grasses and browse available. No sea of waving grasses belly deep on the cow will be found here, even in the best of years. In Webb's diamond, cattle survive on the browse and the nutrient­ rich prickly pear, which ranchers encourage the cattle to eat by burning off the spines with propane torches. Therefore, the cattle can survive in the brush year round without intervention from the rancher, except in time of severe drought. Here the cattle brought by the Spanish multiplied to huge herds that survived without any human intervention whatever. Ibis eondition fosters the concept ofopen range ranching in whieh the owner sees the cattle only irregularly at times of roundup for working and selling. The brush is now so thiek that the animals are penned these days by using trap pens around watering sites or by using helicopters with horses and dogs to drive the cattle from the brush. J. Frank Dobie's A Vaquero o/the Brush Countryll is a good touchstone to remember here and offers examples of men who ride horseback in this brush and bring the cattle out. In view ofthis information, it seems apparent that Jordan's Louisiana ineubator theory for the origin of open-range ranching as an institution in the United States and for the cowboy lacks validity. Analysis of development of ranehing in northwest Texas serves to illustrate how various influences merged to form a variant culture. Along the rich lands of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Shackelford, Stephens, and Jones counties and further cast in Palo Pinto and Parker counties, cattle barons such as Oliver Loving, Jesse Hittson, and others established ranching kingdoms and spread them all over the West. Men like John G. Irwin, Joseph Beck Matthews, and Barber Watkins Reynolds, all of Scottish descent, established significant and long­ standing ranching operations and later trailed cattle to distant points on both sides of the Rocky Mountains. They were followed in the trade by 11

Ilvis Mountains of far west Texas, George and W.D. Reynolds, John A. Matthews, John Chadbourne Irwin, Ptt on what to an inexperienced and others, whose descendants have continued their ranching interests :ure. The forage maintains its into the present. The early practices were open range ones, but over time, inter. There ',\-iII, however, be an other practices suited to the region have evolved. Pastures have ben iDg which the animal must learn fenced and eross-fenced, some land has been put into cultivation mainly r'Se available. No sea of waving for growing wheat in the winter, and cattle suited to the land selected, ~ found here, even in the best of especially Herefords and Black Angus, often crossbred. In fact, Albany is called "Home ofthe Hereford" because ofthe early introduction ofthis e on the browse and the nutrient­ British breed into the region. Other regions have similar development urage the cattle to eat by burning histories that make them unique while varying only slightly from the berefore, the cattle ean survive in norm. For example, at the National Finals for Ranch Rodeo in Glen Rose .n from the rancher, exeept in time in 1996, I asked a young cowboy friend what the gear of the various 19b! by the Spanish multiplied to teams looked like. His response was that all of the clothing, gear, and lIDanintervention whatever. This taek looked just like what he was accustomed to seeing in west Texas. mge ranching in which the owner These men eame from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, and les of roundup for working and Arizona. :he animals are penned these days In A. Texas Frontier, Cashion credits Scottish roots for the kind of ,tes or by using helicopters with operation found along the Clear Fork and cites two paths of entry. One, m the brush. J. Frank Dobie's A he ways, spread "through the piedmont and Appalachians into the Ohio Kld touchstone to remember here Valley and the Midwest" and on "through Missouri" en route to North lorseback in this brush and bring Texas. The other strand eame "through Georgia, the Florida Panhandle. In, it seems apparent that Jordan's Alabama. Mississippi. and Louisiana before reaehing deep East Texas" ~in of open-range ranehing as an and eoming to the ranges ofTexas. 12 the cowboy lacks validity. A eowboy culture still thrives in this area, especially along the Clear ting in northwest Texas serves to Fork where the soil is shallow and rainfall scant in most seasons. Despite d to fonn a variant culture. Along this reality. however, the area is one ofthe best eattle-raising areas in the le Brazos River in Shackelford, world. There is little dOUbt, however, that the eowboy originated further ler east in Palo Pinto and Parker south. Loving, Jesse Hittson, and others 'Whatever theory of the genesis of the eO\....·boy that one accepts, it is cad them all over the West. Men sufficient to say that in the southern part of Texas developed a ranching datthews, and Barber Watkins eulture that spread along with its cattle overthe western part ofTexas and rtablished significant and long­ hence on to other areas, especially the Northern Plains, where free grass trailed cattle to distant pOints on beekoned to hardy souls that found ranching a promising way oflife. It ley were followed in the trade by was carried on the heads of Longhorn cattle brought in by the Spanish 12

and allowed to multiply on the open ranges of south Texas. Here a man on horseback could look at the horizon and make a living at least as good as the man following a mule with a hand on the plow and eye on the mule's posterior, a way oflife that allowed him to rope and work with his cattle, not bend his back to chop weeds and crawl to pick cotton.

NOTES

I. Waller Prescott Webb, The Great Plains (Waltham, MA: Blaisdell, 1959),208. 2. J. Frnnk Dobie, The Longhorns (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1941), vii. 3. Joe S. Graham, £1 Rancho in South Texas (Denton: University ofNorth Tex.as Press, 1994). 4. William Wittliff, The Vaquero: Genesis ofthe Cowboy (San Antonio: Institute of Texas Cultures, 1972). 5. Terry Jordan, Trails to Texas: Southern Roots ofWe.uern Cattle Ranching(Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press, 198 I). 6. Terry Jordan, North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers: Origins, DiJjUsion, and Differentiation (Albuquerque: University of New Mexieo Press, 1993),267. 7. Patricia Limerick, The Legacy ofConquest: The Unbroken Past o/the A.merican West (New York: Norton, 1987). 8, Richard While, "It's Your Misfortune andNone ofMy Own": A New His/ory ofthe American Wesl (Norman: Univer:;ity of Oklahoma Press, 1991). 9. Riehard W, Slatta, Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 188-189. 10. Jim Bob Tinsley, He WasSingin' ThiJSong(Orlando: University ofCentral Florida Press, 1981),4. II. J. Frank Dobie, A Vaquero ofthe Brush Country (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., '929). 12. Ty Cashion, A Texas Frontier: The Clear Fork Counrry and Fort Griffin, 1849­ 1887 (Norman: Univer:;ity of Oklahoma Press, 1996), 59-60.